(actually, tho, user named Saro is a pretty calm, solid libertarian in the debate; I like his Last-Person-on-Earth Rule for determing whether a right’s fundamental or not)

Thanks! In echo chambers like HuffPo, attempting to sling mud against prevailing opinion is often counterproductive, so I’m really trying to keep my cool and just lay it all out.

]]>By: Michael Magnushttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2294288
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:00:45 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2294288Great article. One suggestion though, she blamed the GOP “job creators” for the absurd regulations, but never really got around to saying how the GOP was responsible. It’s hard for me to get riled up if she never gives me the hard facts.
Accusation was great. Proof, no where to be found. Otherwise a great article.
]]>By: Mattocracyhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2291877
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:04:48 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2291877“This is exactly the point made by a lot of libertarian corporate apologists when they’re defending the practices of lobbyists.”

]]>By: Pi Guyhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2290565
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:21:27 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2290565PS (b/c I’d written it last then realized that it should prolly be the first thing mentioned!) to Jessica: Congrats on having such an impact your first time out. Gonna make the teacher proud forcing people to think like this!

The comments there are unreal.

No matter how many times I try to resist the urge when one of you say “OMD – the comments are unreal”, I go anyway. I can’t help myself. It’s like a trainwreck I know is going to happen. And I keep F#*&ing doing it!!! What the hell is wrong with me??

(actually, tho, user named Saro is a pretty calm, solid libertarian in the debate; I like his Last-Person-on-Earth Rule for determing whether a right’s fundamental or not)

Damn you, Radley, on succeeding to the point where my brain melts a little every time I follow you to HuffPo.

]]>By: JORhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2288559
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:19:59 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2288559“Actually, the story is about Free Market regulating itself through buying legislatio­n. If it is Free, it has the Right to buy anything, including legislatio­n.”

Why is everyone jumping over this as if it is unalloyed stupidity? This is exactly the point made by a lot of libertarian corporate apologists when they’re defending the practices of lobbyists. But if a lefty says the same thing, disapprovingly, it must be completely ridiculous.

]]>By: JORhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2288521
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:14:56 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2288521Calling it crony capitalism is a bit like calling the USSR “dictator communism”. It’s just capitalism, working as it always has. Yes, you can create an alternate definition of “capitalism” that means “market free of state intervention”, as libertarians have been trying to do for about a century, but that’s never been the overwhelming common usage of the term. All that’s been accomplished by libertarians associating “capitalism” with “free market” is that dumbass leftists started doing it too, resulting in more confusion for everyone.

Note that #2’s point is exactly equivalent to blaming guns for shootings, or drugs for addiction. The state and all its corruption isn’t magically self-creating and self-sustaining. It exists because there is demand.

]]>By: Freedonianhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2287142
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:48:27 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2287142I see that very same thing here in Jackson, Mississippi when conversing with those of our local ‘Occupy’ group. They seem open to Left-Libertarianism, particularly when it is illustrated how the state very often aids in stifling competition from start-up ventures.

I suppose there is a certain amount of confusion on their part, there is a world of difference between my idea of ‘free market capitalism’, and what the ‘conservative movement’ has been selling as ‘free market capitalism’ to the American public for the last 30 years or so.

Maybe we need a pamphlet?!? Comic book format?

]]>By: Helmut O' Hooliganhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2285740
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:14:54 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2285740“Passed under the guise of consumer protection, the net effect is to give large, existing car companies (also known as livery services) a huge advantage over smaller companies, and to effectively prevent any new companies from entering the market.”

A job well done by Jessica the intern! The above quote explains in a nutshell why progressives need to stop their often blind worship of regulatory power. If small businesses have to comply with a huge number of complicated and COSTLY regulations, there won’t be many small businesses. But as perlhaqr and others allude to, this lesson will be lost on the orthodox Left.

Frustrating as it can be, libertarians–especially Left-libertarians like me who have a democratic socialist background–need to continue hammering these points home. Recently I was talking with a few OWS protesters at Occupy Peoria (IL). I told them that I understood their anger at bailouts, and their distaste for corporate power (like the Chase bank they were standing across from). But I also told them to keep in mind that corporations are creatures of the state, and would not exist in their current form without the state, its legal system or its financial aid (direct or indirect). The protesters expressed some agreement with my statements, though I don’t know if they quite knew where I was coming from. I suppose this was because they couldn’t quite categorize my statements, ideologically speaking. And that is the main problem we have to overcome.

]]>By: Seanhttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2285011
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:17:04 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2285011The comments at HuffPost are fascinating.
]]>By: Mikehttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2284868
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:55:34 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2284868Congrats Jessica – great article. As they say, “You pissed off all the right people.”
]]>By: Big Ahttp://www.theagitator.com/2011/12/07/rent-seeking-in-the-car-service-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-2284702
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:30:31 +0000http://www.theagitator.com/?p=23065#comment-2284702“You make my point. It is exactly an unregulate­d marketplac­e that can “buy” the votes of elected officials that result in such skewed situations­.”

Wow. I like the use of ‘skewed situations’ instead of ‘more regulations’ so that one at least has to read the sentence rather than just look at it to see the conflict.